Covid-19: global forecasts rebound after five-month decline

H2 Gambling Capital saw the first gain in its 2020 gross gambling win forecasts this week since it started tracking the impact of the pandemic on the sector five months ago.

iGB’s principal data partner is now forecasting global gambling revenues to come in 24% behind pre-pandemic projections compared to 24.1% last week, after better-than-expected Chinese lottery and Italian igaming numbers for May added $360m to forecasts (Charts 1, 2 and 8 below)

In Asia, the bringing forward of its assumption of Singapore casino reopenings to 23 June saw H2 adjust its downgrade to 27% from 27.1% (Chart 3)

They however cautioned that a return to normal for this and other international destination casino markets was heavily dependent on border reopenings and resumption of air travel.

The other main story this week was online increasing its forecast share of global gambling revenues, reflecting the continued acceleration in digital transformation of the sector highlighted in previous updates, now up to 17% from the 13.2% predicted before the pandemic (Chart 6).